“We’re more gentle people,” they told me, “happier people”, and they say they get a better reaction when their hosts find out where they are from (or perhaps more accurately where they are not from).

“We have Trudeau, they have Trump” is another phrase you hear often right now as Canadians are keen to point out their liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is politically poles apart from US President, Donald Trump.

I explored this matter with Canada’s recently retired Governor General - the Queen’s representative in the country of which she is still head.

He points to the two countries respective constitutions: America’s is very “individualistic”, he says, ours is not.

We’re sitting in the King Edward hotel in Toronto - named after the son of Queen Victoria who ascended to the throne at the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

It’s another reminder that, like in America, there was a colonisation from Europe and, before that, a crushing of the native peoples.

And today, Canada acknowledges its history before colonisation while it celebrates its anniversary since colonisation.

The people sitting in this marquee are from all over the world, Syria, Iraq, Malaysia. Credit: ITV On Assignment

At a citizenship ceremony - held in the two official languages of its dual colonial past (British and French) - the latest citizens of Canada watch a traditional native dance.

The people sitting in this marquee are from all over the world, Syria, Iraq, Malaysia.

They’ve come because Canada has opened its doors at a time when many developed nations have signalled their doors are closing.

Around 250,000 people are enrolled as new citizens of Canada each year.

We met Hameeda who came here with her family from Afghanistan.

She says she’s never experienced hostility since her arrival in Canada, nothing other than a welcome smile.

“In your heart, do you feel Canadian?” I ask.

“100 per cent”, is her reply.

But that doesn’t mean this is a country where the debate about the effects of immigration is not happening at all.

With so many illegal migrants racing to cross the border from the USA into Canada, there is definitely some “push back” says Wendy Mesley - a longtime anchor on Canadian broadcaster CBC.

But just as they debate their national identity on TV, they laugh about it too.

At a theatre, I watched a comedy show called “The Thinking Man’s America”.

On the stage, they act sketches about their relationship with the US and sing songs with the words: “because we are not hated half as much as you…”

We can be “a little smug” said two of the comedians after the show.

There was a lot I didn’t know about Canada. Credit: ITV On Assignment

Canadians look over the American border at “their” gun control issue and “their” healthcare and the comedians both shake their heads, smiling.

It’s little wonder this country gets mistaken for America.

The streets of Toronto act as a backdrop for New York on many a US television show.

Canadian mountains are used for films which are set in the American Rockies.

A 150th anniversary is known as sesquicentennial - a word I confess I had not heard before arriving here.

But there was a lot I didn’t know about Canada.

And at a time when the debate in the USA is about building walls, it seems Canada wants the rest of the world to know they much prefer taking them down.